Maharashtra Congress delegation meets Sonia over Belgaum

New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Saturday insisted that he had not given up on the demand for Union Territory status for disputed boundary areas in
Karnataka but refrained from raising it with party chief Sonia Gandhi.

A delegation of Maharashtra Congress leaders, led by Chavan, met party chief Gandhi and apprised her of the situation in the state in the wake of flaring up of the
boundary dispute with Karnataka.

The delegation wanted to meet Gandhi soon after they met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 14 but could not do so due to scheduling issues.

They wanted a team appointed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to tour the disputed areas in Karnataka where Marathi-speaking people were being "harassed" by the state government there.

Chavan said he was firm on his demand for granting Union Territory status to the 865 villages in Karnataka which have a majority of Marathi-speaking population.

"The demand for UT status remains. But it was not raised in the discussions with Gandhi," Chavan told reporters.

The Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary row came to the limelight following the Central government’s affidavit in the Supreme Court in late June that the disputed areas could not
be made part of Maharashtra merely because a majority of the population there speak Marathi.

"All aspects and problems of Maharashtra were discussed," state Congress chief Manikrao Thakre said when asked about the meeting.

The delegation wanted the Centre to step in if Karnataka failed to protect the interests of the Marathi-speaking population in the boundary areas.